Sarasota scientists have made a discovery that may pave the way for more effective drug therapies to treat Alzheimer’s patients in the future. In a study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the Roskamp Institute’s scientists say they have isolated a single enzyme connected to all three key factors in Alzheimer’s disease – accumulation of amyloid protein, inflammation and modulation of the “tau” protein. All three damage nerve cells in the brain. “These studies suggest there is a single drug target to inhibit all three key pathologies of Alzheimer’s disease,” stated the study’s lead researcher, neurobiologist Daniel Paris, in...

Former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may come to Sarasota next month for a speaking engagement to promote her latest book. “It’s not confirmed or agreed to yet,” Mary Bensel, executive director of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, said Monday. Clinton’s management is currently arranging speaking engagements in Florida for this summer and “four or five other cities” are also expressing interest, Bensel said. The lecture tour is to promote Clinton’s “Hard Choices,” a 688-page book about her experiences as secretary of state to be published June 10. The Gulf Coast Community Foundation and AT&T have...

The most influential, and likely the most controversial, voice in Republican politics is coming to Sarasota.U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who was the catalyst in shutting down the federal government in a failed bid to block the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, has agreed to come to Sarasota next month to accept the local GOP’s annual statesman of the year award.“He’s a principled leader who is not willing to back away from a fight,” Sarasota Republican Party chairman Joe Gruters said.While Cruz’s first foray into Sarasota is under the guise of accepting Sarasota Republican Party’s suddenly nationally...

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz — credited with leading the effort to shut down the federal government last fall — will visit Sarasota next month, adding to the area’s growing national reputation for rolling out the red carpet for Tea Party icons. The list of recent honorees includes Herman Cain, Sean Hannity and Donald Trump. And besides Cruz, a future guest will be Allen West. Such figures contrast starkly with Sarasota County’s long-standing reputation as a moderate GOP haven where more socially moderate Republicans could win elections with a fiscally conservative message. That image seems a distant memory with the ultra-conservative...

The Fourth Amendment protects us from random invasions of our homes by police, right? We know we're secure in our "persons, houses, papers, and effects" unless the cops demonstrate probable cause to a judge and get a warrant. Except... Except when they don't. The fact of the matter is that police have a lot of leeway to bust your door down and take a look around if they fear that waiting for a warrant could lead to loss of evidence or danger to people. Or lead to something, anyway. That end run around the Fourth Amendment is called "exigent circumstances,"...

After leaving her operating room scrub nurse duties at Sarasota's Doctors Hospital on Wednesday, Louise Goldsberry went to her Hidden Lake Village apartment. Her boyfriend came over, and after dinner — about 8 p.m. — Goldsberry went to her kitchen sink to wash some dishes. That's when her boyfriend, Craig Dorris — a manager for a security alarm company — heard her scream and saw her drop to the floor. Goldsberry, 59, said she had looked up from the sink to see a man “wearing a hunting vest.” He was aiming a gun at her face, with a red light...

A Saudi family who “fled” their Sarasota area home weeks before 9/11 had “many connections” to “individuals associated with the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001,” according to newly released FBI records. One partially declassified document, marked “secret,” lists three of those individuals and ties them to the Venice, Fla., flight school where suicide hijackers Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi trained. Accomplice Ziad Jarrah took flying lessons at another school a block away. Atta and al-Shehhi were at the controls of the jetliners that slammed into the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center, killing nearly 3,000 people. Jarrah was the...

Divers exploring a southern Florida sinkhole have uncovered clues to what life was like for some of America's first residents.Led by University of Miami professor John Gifford, underwater archaeologists are exploring Little Salt Spring, 12 miles (19 kilometers) south of Sarasota.Earlier this year, students working about 30 feet (9 meters) below the surface found the remains of a gourd that probably was used as a canteen by an ancient hunter about 8,000 or 9,000 years ago, according to Gifford.Archaeologists have been recovering primitive relics from the spring since 1977, when divers found the remains of a large, now extinct tortoise...

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) -- A proposal in Sarasota County to allow hog hunts on a Sarasota wilderness preserve is being criticized by animal rights activists. According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (http://bit.ly/KtJq70), local officials are considering whether to allow a group of 30 hunters with dogs and knives to go into a Sarasota County wilderness preserve for nighttime hog hunts in December and again next March. County commissioners have postponed a decision on the proposal to do more research. Officials from the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the county say legions of wild hogs are tearing up pristine lands in...

A sneering teenager, nicknamed 'Savage', was today found guilty in the shooting deaths of two British tourists after days of damning evidence. Shawn Tyson, 17, was charged with two counts of first degree murder for killing James Cooper and James Kouzaris in April 2011 and was sentenced to life in prison.

Two British tourists holidaying in Florida begged for their lives with their trousers pulled down before they were mercilessly shot dead, a court has heard. Shawn Tyson, who turned 17 on Monday, is said to have murdered James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, after they drunkenly stumbled into the rundown Newtown neighbourhood of Sarasota. He allegedly forced the terrified pair to pull down their trousers before firing a volley of shots. Accused: Shawn Tyson is on trial for the murders of British tourists James Cooper and James Kouzaris Tyson is accused of going to rob the best friends in...

Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, who co-chaired Congress’ Joint Inquiry into the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has seen two classified FBI documents that he says are at odds with the bureau’s public statements that there was no connection between the hijackers and Saudis then living in Sarasota, Fla. “There are significant inconsistencies between the public statements of the FBI in September and what I read in the classified documents,” Graham said. Whether the 9/11 hijackers acted alone, or whether they had support within the U.S., remains an unanswered question -- one that began to be asked as soon as it became...

The infamous Legoman that washed up on a Florida beach is now free after spending 90 days in lock-up. The 8-foot tall statue named "Ego Lennard" was released from protective custody Thursday to Denise Kowal, the chair of the Sarasota Chalk Festival. Legoman quickly became a big celebrity in town and even made Time Magazine as one of last year's top "oddball" news stories. Ego had to wait so long to be released because any found property without an official claimant must be held for 90 days. For those of you out there wondering where Legoman will land, Kowal says...

Mods, please remove if double post. Safe Link. http://htpolitics.com/2012/01/24/gingrich-greeted-by-large-boisterous-crowd-in-sarasota/ Newt Gingrich brought his rising campaign to Sarasota today, filling half of a hangar at Dolphin Aviation with an enthusiastic, flag-waving crowd that cheered his often harsh critiques of President Barack Obama. “He doesn’t operate on the same planet as you and I do,” Gingrich said about the president, who will deliver his fourth State of the Union address tonight. Joe Gruters, the Sarasota Republican Party chairman, said some 4,700 tickets had been requested for the event. Gingrich said the crowd was indicative of the “grassroots, insurgency campaign against the establishment”...

In one of the most disturbing youth sports incidents in recent years, coaches of a Sarasota, Florida youth football team instigated a brawl with a referee which eventually led to both the coaching staff and a player violently attacking the referee in question during a massive brawl which embroiled both teams. As reported by Sarasota Patch, quickly followed by a variety of Tampa Bay news outlets, details of the incident were first gleaned from an amateur video ofa game involving the Sarasota Gators and North Port Huskies on Saturday. The video in question was eventually turned over to the Sarasota...

Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic — and now hypnopsis? North Port High School Principal George Kenney — also a certified hypnotist — had been working with students using hypnotism to help them focus on academics and athletics. Now his practise of using hyponosis is under fire. All because there were some serious and questionable results: A recently released Sarasota County School District investigative report acquired by the Herald-Tribune showed Kenney hynotised three students this year — after which two of the students committed suicide, and the third was killed in a car accident, reports the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. This principal has admitted...

SARASOTA COUNTY - Prosecutorial missteps and a series of communication problems led a judge to release 16-year-old Shawn Tyson from custody just hours before police say he shot and killed two British tourists in Newtown.

SARASOTA - Last April, a veteran Sarasota Police homicide detective went to the courthouse and tried to secede from the United States of America. The detective, Tom Laughlin, filed a convoluted document declaring himself a "sovereign citizen." The filing included a thumb print on each page and a photocopy of 21 silver pieces — the price to become a "freeman." In doing so, Laughlin, 42, joined a small but growing group of U.S. citizens who claim they are not subject to federal law, that they no longer have to pay taxes and that their homes are their embassies. Last week,...

Siesta Beach and Village is a great place to spend Spring Break! Beautiful girls ride the Segway on the Siesta Beach, experts play volleyball on the whitest finest sands in the world and dancers wait for sunset and get ready to party into the night. OK, let's go!

In Sarasota County, FL "three South Florida men have been charged in connection with [a] Best Buy burglary and another at West Marine in Sarasota, and now detectives say the group may be connected to organized crime" as reported by Anthony Cormier for the Herald Tribune: [L]awmen say . . . the group may have been stealing GPS devices and boating equipment to help with human trafficking efforts from Cuba. So far, there is no clear evidence that the group is linked to human traffickers based in South Florida, said Sheriff Tom Knight. "But that's certainly one of the thoughts...

What would you do if you were staring down the barrel of a shotgun, with a hooded man demanding your money or your life, but all you had in your pocket was five dollars and a .380 pistol? Here is a very candid, post-shooting incident interview with a man who experienced exactly this situation and the law enforcement officials handling the case. There are many real world lessons to be learned in this very rare and extremely educational video interview… This is a video you are not likely to see very often. Watch the video and then see my comments...

Investors in a Sarasota-based hedge fund could be out $350 million, and the man behind it has vanished. Managers of the fund are telling clients that their money is gone, and they do not know if any will be recovered. Fund principal Arthur G. Nadel, a prominent player in Sarasota social and philanthropic circles, disappeared this week. His wife, Peg, filed a missing person report with law enforcement after finding a suicide note. Investors — from individuals to the Sarasota YMCA Foundation — in the funds branded Viking, Valhalla and Scoop were stunned this week to learn they may be...

SARASOTA, Fla. — A woman was charged with leaving her mother to die languishing on the floor for two weeks after she suffered a debilitating fall. Helen Frizzell, 94, died hours after she was found by authorities in November. According to police, her 65-year-old daughter brought her food, cleaned her and used bug spray to keep away swarming insects. Carole Mae Frizzell told police she could not lift her mother, who insisted that she not call 911.

SARASOTA COUNTY - FL -- Bay Haven School of Basics Plus was deluged with angry phone calls today after talk show host Rush Limbaugh told a national audience that the school was honoring conscientious objectors on Veterans Day. Limbaugh’s source was a woman who said her fourth-grader came home and told her of his teacher’s plans for the holiday. Principal Betsy Asheim-Dean said the radio show blew out of proportion a memo that a teacher sent to other staff members at the school. In the e-mail, teacher Rolf Hanson wrote that "For our Veterans' Day celebration my class will be...

Democrats continue to chalk up surprising victories in Sarasota County, further eroding the area's reputation as a Republican stronghold. On Tuesday, the Democratic tide rolled into the most unlikely of places: Venice. While the nonpartisan race hinged heavily on the direction of growth and development, both parties say it was still significant that the winning candidates were all Democrats. "The Democrats have a reason to crow," Sarasota Republican Party Chairman Eric Robinson said. "They won. The county is becoming more liberal."

A female caller and mother of five children just called into Rush and announced that her elementary school student came home to announce that his class at Bay Haven Elementary School in Sarasota, FL would be celebrating Veteran's Day by celebrating "conscientious objectors" rather than veterans. The mother complained to the school principal of the school, who replied that she could not control what her teachers taught in the classroom. REALLY? So, if I want to teach Nazism, I can? Please let this principal hear from you -- BE NICE, BUT FIRM. Her email address is: betsy_asheim@sarasota.k12.fl.us

Bones found near Indian BeachBuilders unearth remains, but excavation of site is unlikely By LATISHA R. GRAY 3-10-2007 latisha.gray@heraldtribune.comSTAFF PHOTO / DAN WAGNER Construction was halted on this waterfront property in Sarasota after human remains were found. SARASOTA -- The remains of what appears to be an American Indian have at least one local archeologist both excited and dismayed. Palmetto archaeologist Bill Burger said the rib, femur and vertebrae unearthed this month by construction workers building a luxury home along the bayfront could offer clues of a tribe from long gone. But it is impossible to determine just what else...

'Bottom line here is that nothing's off the table,' says spokesman for incoming speaker of HouseThe certified winner of an office in the U.S. House of Representatives may not be seated with other members of Congress by incoming speaker Nancy Pelosi next week for one reason. He's a Republican. In an extremely close race in Florida's 13th District, Republican Vern Buchanan defeated Democrat Christine Jennings by 369 votes. But ongoing legal challenges by Democrats are putting Buchanan's claim to the seat in jeopardy, now that the party in control of the majority has shifted away from the GOP. "The bottom...

WASHINGTON - Republican Vern Buchanan might be the official winner in a messy Sarasota-area congressional race, but Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean says the Democratic-controlled Congress should not seat Buchanan without another election. "Absolutely not," Dean said in a taped Political Connections interview scheduled to air Sunday on Bay News 9. "You cannot seat someone if you don't have an election that's valid. "This election is not valid. There are 18,000 people who may have voted, and we don't know what happened to their votes," Dean said. "You can bet that if the Republicans were 500 votes short they'd...

PORT CHARLOTTE -- When Asher Levine hosted the kick-off meeting of Charlotte County's first gay-straight alliance on Monday, a police officer stood outside the classroom to guard against disruptors. Levine's teachers at Port Charlotte High School had told him not to be surprised if no one showed up. But they did -- 76 students, gays and other students who supported them. The club, the Gay Straight Alliance, is being embraced by some. But it's also forcing the school system to address what has traditionally been a sensitive and sometimes uncomfortable subject: how to talk about students' sexuality. While there are...

Well, I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again: As the political left finds itself continually shut out of the halls of power, where they feel they are undeservedly entitled to walk, they continue to become more and more rabid and unthinking in their violent behaviors. Anger makes you stupid, and stupidity breeds mistakes. Case in point: Once again, a local Republican couple find their SUV vandalized by Kerry brownshirts who, foolishly, left a “Kerry/Edwards” bumper sticker on a side window exposed when the Katherine Harris sign that was there was ripped off and left on the ground. Talk...

Man Accused Of Trying To Run Over Katherine Harris Man: 'I Intimidated Them With My Car' POSTED: 11:30 am EDT October 27, 2004 UPDATED: 11:47 am EDT October 27, 2004 SARASOTA, Fla. -- A Sarasota man was arrested on an aggravated assault charge Wednesday after he was accused of trying to run down U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris and a group of supporters with his car. A silver Cadillac sped toward the group at a Sarasota intersection Tuesday evening, then swerved at the last minute before driving off, according to police. Witnesses gave the car's license plate number to police, and...

Ringling abounds with spirited, spooky discoveries Generations of Ringling School of Art and Design students claim to have seen a ghostly figure in Keating Center, and now they're taking the eerie story national ROBERTA C. NELSON Herald Staff Writer SARASOTA - When Christina Siciliano was a student at Ringling School of Art and Design nine years ago, she turned off the lights in her dorm room every night and said, "Good night, Mary." Siciliano didn't have a roommate. She lived alone in Room 12 in Keating Center. Mary was the ghost students have talked about for years, and many believe...

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11" criticizes President Bush for listening to Sarasota second-graders read a story for nearly seven minutes after learning the nation was under attack on Sept. 11, 2001. But Gwendolyn Tose'-Rigell, the principal at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, says Bush handled himself properly. "I don't think anyone could have handled it better," Tose'-Rigell told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in a story published Wednesday. "What would it have served if he had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?" "Fahrenheit 9/11," which won the top honor at last month's Cannes Film...

A grand jury indicted Joseph P. Smith on first-degree murder, kidnapping and capital sexual battery charges today.Smith, 37, is being held in the Manatee County Jail without bond in connection with the kidnapping and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia. A camera recorded Carlie being led away by a man in a uniform-like outfit and tattoos on his arms from a car wash in Sarasota Feb. 1. Her body was discovered near a church east of Interstate 75 on Feb. 6. Smith was arrested that same day as he sat in jail on a Feb. 3 probation violation and drug charges....

SARASOTA - Joseph P. Smith won't stand before an unfamiliar name this March when he is expected to enter a plea before a judge. Facing charges in the kidnapping and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia and two drug-related charges, Smith, 37, is scheduled to face Sarasota Circuit Judge Harry Rapkin at an arraignment hearing March 12, according to the Sarasota County Clerk of Courts' records.The two have never met, but their histories are intertwined.Rapkin crossed paths with Smith's case as recently as December when state corrections officials tried to put Smith back in jail on a probation violation. Rapkin said...

SARASOTA, Fla. - The two parties responsible for supervising the man suspected in the slaying of an 11-year-old girl pointed fingers at each other Friday for not putting him behind bars in December. Joe Brucia, the father of victim Carlie Brucia, called for an investigation into how Smith's case was handled. "As far as this individual being out on the street, I really find the decisions made by some of these judges very questionable," said Joe Brucia. "He should never have been out on the streets." Both Circuit Judge Harry Rapkin and the Florida Department of Corrections denied wrongdoing in...

Abduction Suspect Has History Of 2nd Chances By MIKE SAEWITZ Sarasota Herald-Tribune Published: Feb 7, 2004 SARASOTA - On more than one occasion, the drug-addicted man accused of abducting Carlie Brucia stood before a judge who could have given him maximum penalties of five years in prison. Time after time, Joseph P. Smith received second chances. He was put on probation and sent to treatment programs instead of jail. Smith's arrest record includes charges of false imprisonment, aggravated battery and carrying a concealed weapon. But most of his convictions are for obtaining controlled substances by fraud or possession of drugs....

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) - A tattooed mechanic with a long rap sheet was charged with murder Friday after authorities found the body of an 11-year-old girl whose kidnapping was captured on a carwash surveillance camera. Police said Joseph P. Smith told a witness that he had kidnapped and killed Carlie Brucia, and authorities used that information to find the sixth-grader's body in a church parking lot a few miles from the carwash. Investigators refused to say how the girl was killed or whether she had been raped. The arrest report said only that she died "as a result of...

<p>February 9, 2004 -- Suspected Florida child killer Joseph Smith borrowed a car from his roommate the day he allegedly kidnapped and murdered 11-year-old Carlie Brucia and handed the vehicle over 16 hours later - with signs of a violent struggle, according to a new report.</p>

Carlie Brucia has been found by police. 610 WIOD has verified the information. The parents were notified last night and the story is breaking exclusively on 610 WIOD. The news department has confirmed this over the phone. WIOD's Phone number is (954)862-2000

<p>An 11-year-old girl was apparently abducted while walking home from a friend's house, with the kidnapping caught by a surveillance camera, police said Monday.</p>
<p>The camera behind a car wash caught sixth-grader Carlie Brucia being led away Sunday evening by a white male in his late 20s or early 30s, the Sarasota County Sheriff's office said.</p>

Firstcoastnews.com Police Search For Missing 11-Year-Old Florida Girl By First Coast News Staff SARASOTA COUNTY, FL -- There is an Amber Alert in Florida for a missing 11-year old. Carlie Brucia is five feet tall and weighs 120 pounds. She was last seen on Sunday wearing a short-sleeved red shirt and blue jeans. Brucia has blond hair and blue eyes. Police believe she was taking a short cut home on Sunday, and while walking behind a car wash in Sarasota, a man approached her and grabbed her. Investigators are looking at surveillance video from behind the car wash. It...

By now, most everyone knows President George W. Bush began that fateful day, Sept 11 on Longboat Key, but the FBI is now investigating whether terrorists also began that fateful day here on the island. At about 6 a.m. Sept. 11, Longboat Key Fire Marshall Carroll Mooneyhan was at the front desk of the Colony Beach & Tennis Resort as Bush prepared for his morning jog. From that vantage point, Mooneyhan overheard a strange exchange between a Colony receptionist and security guard. A van occupied by men of Mid-Eastern descent had pulled up to the Colony stating they had a ...

MANATEE COUNTY -- Before they begin every meeting, the five members of the School Board stand -- asking those in the audience to join them -- bow their heads and recite the Lord's Prayer. While factions may form during their meetings, the board is unanimous in its belief that prayer -- the one from the New Testament in particular -- is the way to begin their meetings. Others don't agree. Steven Rosenauer of Bradenton said he came to a School Board meeting this month full of pride for his son who was to be recognized as part of Haile Middle...

We had a great time today at the Sarasota Rally for the Troops. Several hundred were in attendance. All waving flags, and signs supporting our troops. Such a great sight, and I don't think I've ever heard so many car horns in my life.Me and "Blue Highway" met several Freepers in the crowd, and we all enjoyed a great lunch at Marina Jacks.It was so great to meet other Freepers.Thank you to all who were there. JulieRNR21 and Nautinurse(sp? sorry) have names and pictures from the event. This was my first Freep, and the same goes for Blue Highway. I'll...